The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1887-07-28
Wakalla County and the Phes.
pilates.

W 0A0th0 OO0mty 0n0 H00 Km00-
pilates.
Our farmers ere highly eIated IL the prospects
Of . boQutiful harvest. From all accounts the
corn crop will b the largest made In . number
Of Year,. The cotton crop. also, bids ihir TO be
n remunSraiivs one.-Waksus 1smAs, 2sd
The fertility u Wskulla county land Is well
are surprised that II should be. 30 different 10 It's
appearance from that Of rich soils generally,
which a. q rule are dark and compact A few
days since we travelled over Tully's rapid mail
route through portion of Wakulla county, and
shared the surprise that others have expressed
that light and sandy soil should sustain such
slrsng growth OF corn and cotton, and this with
out fertilzing and on land that had been cult
waited for many years, Is in the neighborhood of
Cnwfordville, the pleasant county seat Land
Of the same appearance in many other parts Of
the South will yield no crop that will pay for
planting after . few years cultivation without
fertilizng Therefore there are peculiar proper
ties in Wakulla soil which give it the strength
that Is indicated by the vegetation
as in some shell hammocks in the
parts Of the State contiguous to the Gulf
But the shells are not visible in fertile Wakulla
fields We saw, as they are in the shell hammocks,
and we conclude that the light sell is impregna-
ted with the invisible properties Of disintegrated
shells and bones Of marine animals of an age long
anterior to the collections in the ordinary shell
hammocks
In the country about Sopchoppy, however, the
bones Of prehistoric marine creatures are abund-
antly visible, being near the surface and forming
the new widely known deposits of Wakulla
phosphates," which have been proved by analysis
to be richer than those of Charleston. The pro-
specting operations Of the " Sopehoppy Phos-
phate Company" show these deposits to be OF
great extent, the bones and sharks teeth being
found imbedded near the surface in the well de-
fined stratum of matrix earth about eighteen
inches thick wherever it is dug into over q wide
area of land that is owned or leased by the Com
pany. Some of the sharks teeth are wider than
a mans hand and nearly as long, and the bones
are those of animals as mnch larger than the spe-
cies now known as was the indicated size of the
mighty owners Of the teeth.
The aspects of this phosphate region Pc
culiar and interesting both as to vegetation and
geological formation, and the Sopchoppy river
itself is rather a novelty among Florida streams,
with It's deep, clear water running swiftly be-
tween walls Of solid rock that are often perpen-
dicular as the side of a house and many feet
high. 1t is near this river, and on the borders
of Sopchoppy village, that the phosphate COM
pany have laid off forty acres of land in town
lots. which at no distant day may be the sites Of
pleasant homes. The locality is healthy, there
are no mosquitoes, and the nights delightfully."-
cool, as the Gulf waters are but eight miles
away. The healthfulness of the section is at
tested by the robust vigor of aged men who
have lived there many years Among them is
one of the fathers OF the settlement, Mr. R A.
Bradham, South Carolinian, who has been
there forty-one years. and though eighty years
of age is q strong, active man. He is now hav-
ing turbine wheel of more than seventy horse
power put into his mill so that it may sup
ply all the lumber that will be be needed
TO build up the town of Sopchoppy, on the site
of which he discovered the phosphates and
knew them to be of value, as in his native State.
Years ago he collected quantity of specimens.
and when these were sent to the FLoRIDIAN we
chronicled their discovery, as we doubt not we
shall the development OF the deposits into
sources of wealth and of benefit to the agricul-
tural interests of the State.